{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.welch.senate.gov/welch-on-iran-war-its-time-for-us-to-say-end-this-war-end-this-war-now/", "Welch on Iran War: \u201cIt\u2019s time for us to say, end this war. End this war now.\u201d", "2026-09-24", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "VT", "Peter Welch", "W000800", "www.welch.senate.gov", "welch", "https://www.welch.senate.gov/category/press-releases/", "scraper", "\u201cThis war in Iran, absolutely, immediately, must end. And it will only end if the person who started it with the unilateral decision to go to war, decides to end the war.\n\n\u201cWe in this Senate have voted numerous times to end this war. We can\u2019t do it unless we get votes from the other side of the aisle. But it is absolutely disgraceful that the United States is in this war. It was a decision of two men\u2014not two legislative bodies, not two votes of the American people, two men\u2014Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu was in the situation room, making his case that we should go to a war with Iran. Any of the advisors to the president said it was a bogus claim that it would be done overnight, which is essentially what the assertion was.\n\n\u201cSo, our president made a decision\u2014and it was a unilateral decision by him\u2014a unilateral decision, that we go to war. And he told the American people that it would be over in a couple of days, just like Venezuela; hat the people of Iran would rise up and take out the ayatollah. Many Iranians did rise up, and they got slaughtered.\n\n\u201cThe president bragged about the military might\u2014and we do have a strong military \u2014 but his strategic thinking was totally flawed and foolish. He thought bombing could resolve something that it couldn\u2019t. So, yes, we bombed. Yes, leadership in Iran was wiped out. But then, Iran did what military advisors knew it would do, but the president could not listen. They used asymmetric response, drones, to close the Strait of Hormuz.\n\n\u201cThe impact here has been going on for over six months. And the only way we can assess what has happened is come to the conclusion that the president\u2019s policy was a complete failure. It is not working. The president continues to promote a non-policy, asserting we\u2019re putting the squeeze on Iran.\n\n\u201cMr. President, you\u2019re putting the squeeze on farmers in Iowa. You\u2019re putting the squeeze on the tourism industry in Vermont. You\u2019re putting the squeeze on manufacturers in Wisconsin. You\u2019re putting the squeeze on the American people. You know, for a farmer in the Midwest who wants to fill up his combine with diesel, it\u2019s $1,500 extra a day.\n\n\u201cAnd for what? For what? For the ego of a man who capitulated to the pressures of Benjamin Netanyahu? That\u2019s what he did. And who does not have the leadership ability, or the character, to assess what\u2019s happened in these past six months? And acknowledge it\u2019s time for a change? This is a day-to-day catastrophe, and the man who started this must end it. But we, as U.S. senators, with the responsibility and the trust given to us by the people who elected us, have a say. And it\u2019s time for us to say: end this war. End this war now.\n\n\u201cArrogance is not a substitute for good judgment. Arrogance is not an expression of toughness and resolve. It\u2019s time to end this war.\u201d", 1, "2026-09-25T10:04:52Z", "2026-09-25T10:05:46Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.welch.senate.gov/welch-on-iran-war-its-time-for-us-to-say-end-this-war-end-this-war-now/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1080480180680752, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}